Oregon and PNW crops, what they look like, how to prepare.

[Member 34319]

I've got that one saying stuck in my head.

"People will be standing in a field of food and starve to death."

Id like to create a thread of resources for the regions crops. Detailed pictures, and how to actually eat that crop.

Wild crops can be included too.

DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating theft, this is a knowledge thread. The ethics of what someone will do in the end of the world are up to that person. Most crops are designed for mass sales and will likely either die off in the end or be highly protected in a SHTF world. Knowledge is knowledge however, knowing what is out there can be the difference between life and death.

WHEAT:






Early crops resemble grass, slightly planted apart. The stalk will not appear until most of the plant is about 1-1.5' tall. Green it resembles the wheat we all know and have seen, just green. During mid summer, the farmers stop watering the wheat and the drying starts. The plant terns that vibrant golden yellow. The moisture levels are still pretty high, most farmers harvest once they test the grains for a certain moisture level, and might harvest earlier and finish drying in a silo. Where there are fields of wheat, there are also likely silos of wheat. These silos use fans to circulate air from the bottom up to get the kernels to the correct dryness. Without electricity, they could become a mold and bacteria nightmare. Too dry, and the silo can become a bomb in the right conditions. Not to mention that the silos tend to be closer to the farms housing quarters.

Wheat must be cut and the berries removed from the outer sleeve of the stock. The kernel, which kind of looks like rice, can be ground and used as whole wheat. The kernals can be eaten green, though they taste pretty horrible that way, and are best after being dried. Without processing plants white flour will be a thing of the past unless you feel like wasting a lot of the kernel and it's nutrients. The kernels can be soaked in water and eaten as is with the sprouts that will occur from soaking. They can be boiled in water and eaten as a cereal mush. They can be roasted in a pan and eaten sort of like a pop corn, though it won't really pop.

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[The Heretic]

Having personally harvested many crops, both in the field and garden, I am familiar with them, and what they look like/feel/taste, when ripe and ready to harvest - but most people are not. We had problems with people stopping on the road along our orchards and taking (stealing) crops while they were not ripe yet. When confronted they would invariably say they thought the crops were free - yeah right.

And yes, we would dry our nuts (filberts and walnuts) after harvesting - although that is possible manually (we would manually dry black walnuts so as to not mix them with the regular walnuts) - it just doesn't scale to a commercial crop and takes longer.

 

[P7M13]

One of my favorite, most underpicked fruit tree is the fig that many people have in their yards. They dry well and store for months.

When you have problems, take a lesson from an old Clint Eastwood movie, "The Beguiled." Wild mushrooms are a great source of protein. You'll want to use these to thin the herd when the time comes, best served with steak or in a soup.
Amanita Phalloides, a.k.a. Death Cap Mushrooms.

 

[Cosmoline]

Discounting a certain age demographic, I think people have been successfully detached from their food supply. I would wager most people under 30 likely don't know the first thing about foraging, let alone farming. We've been completely spoiled by grocery stores and major cities. Those who grew up in more rural areas are likely less detached given circumstance.

When I found myself in the Pacific Northwest I started learning how it is one of the best areas for biodiversity. You can hunt for breakfast, forage for a snack and fish in a river or ocean all in the same day if you were dedicated. And if you know what to look for, there isn't really a dead season. Winter does slow down, but doesn't come to a crawl unlike some other regions. It's a skill I value highly and still want to kindle. My lady and I go mushroom hunting every Fall and it is a lot of fun.

 

[Martini_Up]

Tree cambium

Jackpine (Lodgepole) or ponderosa pine cambium are best. Spring is best to harvest but edible all year long. Dried Is best but can be eaten fresh too. After drying, can be ground into a flour and used for baking / frying biscuits or thickening stew.

the cambium layer is under the bark but before the wood. White, fibrous material.

bon appètit

 

[OldTengu]

Blackberry
Huckleberry
Wild blueberries
Salmonberries
Elderberry
Wild raspberry
Wild apples and pears
Wild pea
Wild onions
Wild potato
Chicken of the woods
Turkey tails
Morels


These all grow well and in very plentiful amounts at the BUL. Moms has successfully transplanted and cultivated most of them. Our pond has cattails that can be used for flour. Most commonly cultivated items don't grow as well up there without a lot of help, mostly in the form of raised beds and soil amendments, so we made what was there already work for us. There is an added benefit of being able to nail rabbits and squirrels that are trying to get to the plants for added protein. Deer too, when season allows.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Camas.

 

[Member 34319]

Raspberries:

These are everywhere in the PNW. Only during this time of the year are they obviously Raspberries. Unknowledgeable folks may not know what they look like outside of the season. The plants can be cultivated small or as large as 5-6 feet tall. In sheltered and open fields.







The berries are the main edible part of the plant. They can be dried, mushed into jams. Or just eaten as is.

The leaves can be boiled raw or dried to make herbal tea. With presence of tannins and the alkaloid fragarine combined with other nutrients, including calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, and vitamin B, C, and E the leaves tea can be used for many ailments and even as an astringent to disinfect wounds.

 

[Member 34319]

Potatoes:

Its not called Oreida for nothing. Oregon cultivates a ton of potatoes. The plants themselves aren't known to many. They only get 6-12" in height and can grow to about a 1-2' diameter. Usually grown in long rows running the whole length of the property.







Potatoes are simple. Only the tuber is edible. The leaves and roots can be toxic in large quantities and shouldnt be consumed. They can be eaten raw, or cooked. I think most know many variations of how to cook a potato. One thing that should not be disregarded in a SHTF scenario is potato water. Drink the water you cook them in, it should not be discarded. Lots of sugars and starches will be in that water after cooking the potatoes in it.

 

[The Heretic]

Raspberries:

These are everywhere in the PNW. Only during this time of the year are they obviously Raspberries. Unknowledgeable folks may not know what they look like outside of the season. The plants can be cultivated small or as large as 5-6 feet tall. In sheltered and open fields.

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The berries are the main edible part of the plant. They can be dried, mushed into jams. Or just eaten as is.

The leaves can be boiled raw or dried to make herbal tea. With presence of tannins and the alkaloid fragarine combined with other nutrients, including calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, and vitamin B, C, and E the leaves tea can be used for many ailments and even as an astringent to disinfect wounds.

There are two kinds - the red raspberry, pictured above, and the black raspberry - also called "black caps". The red are sweet, the black less so, but still plenty palatable and filling. "Black caps" are used as filler and to add bulk/taste to jams, but also used as edible dye on foodstuffs where producers want to print something right on the foodstuff (like meats or cheeses).

You can tell when a raspberry is ripe and ready to be harvested by whether it almost falls off the plant by touching it.

There is also "thimbleberries" - wild in the PNW:



These are not sweet, and are crumbly, but quite edible.

And there is Salal - quite ubiquitous in the PNW woods:


And wild blueberries, etc.

 

[Member 34319]

Salmonberries are my fave! Usually found in the woods along river beds. I don't believe they are farmed anywhere. Not to be mixed with golden raspberries or Annes, which are farmed. The most common farmed raspberries are usually heritages.

Salmonberries:

 

[P7M13]

Yes to salaal. Spent a week during archery season in '10 and barely touched my food because I ate so much of the berries.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Don't forget the lip smackin soylent green!

 

[Mike7b]

Huckleberries. Go pick a bunch and check out the grouse before the season starts. Roasted grouse with a huckleberry reduction sauce. Mmmm.

 

[Member 34319]

Don't forget the lip smackin soylent green!

I'll type one up on soy beans. I dont know much about them, so I'm researching them a bit. I know they grow a lot of them in Oregon at least.

Was hoping others would pitch in with their knowledge, outside of just stating what grows here, but pictures and information on the plants and how to prepare them or eat them.

 

[Koda]

Ive always wanted to learn how to forage for wild food but when I read about it it seemed difficult to learn and most edible plants have a toxic or deadly look alike.
Ive learned the obvious berries, and the chantrell... is everywhere in the fall and delicious. I foraged about 15lbs of chantrells last fall while out deer hunting.

if shtf I wouldnt know what to do with all the agriculture crops. Seems like the harvest window would be short if you even had one crop close enough to you to scavenge and then have the resource and knowledge to preserve for use.

I just learned from this thread I can eat or make tea from my raspberry plant leaves. Id guess we can do the same for wild blackberry leaves growing everywhere.

 

[Howard1955]

 

[Cosmoline]

Learn Your Land is an excellent YouTube channel where he teaches foraging and identification. Eat the Weeds is another I like.

Mushrooms are plentiful up here, but not all year 'round. Fall, particularly around October is really when you can get plenty. Toxic look alikes do exist, but won't typically kill you. There are a few deadly toxic mushrooms up here, namely the infamous Death Cap. For every bad mushroom (or inedible) there are good ones. I frequently find oyster mushrooms (no toxic look alikes) on deadfall. I've seen them get pretty big as well! Plenty of chanterelles, puffballs and tons of medicinal ones such as turkey tail.

I'm still a novice, and I advise people who are just starting to avoid little brown mushrooms (frequently abbreviated to LBM's) as they have so many subspecies and grow often in the same areas it is incredibly difficult to accurately identify them accurately in the field. Most of these don't resemble common edible mushrooms, but do confuse those looking for magic mushrooms.

There's an abundance of classes in fall that will teach you how to forage mushrooms and start you with very safe and simple to identify mushrooms. If you're in Washington, Paul Staments operates out of Olympia and is one of the authorities on mycology. I'd trust anything he said related to all things fungi with my life.

There's a pair of old sayings I like to stick to for foraging, and especially mushroom hunting: "There are old mushrooms hunters and bold mushroom hunters" and "when in doubt, throw it out".

Some mushrooms are super easy to identify, such as Inky Caps but shouldn't be eaten with or around the time you've consumed alcohol. Most people become violently ill, and it is what gave it another moniker tippler's bane. Reactions like this are relatively uncommon but worth being aware of if you are eating wild mushrooms.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Just something I do and maybe some of you have already thought of this. I keep a small library of books for when the shtf. I have a mushroom i.d. book, a few for edible wild plants, books on processing and preserving animals, etc. I have a feeling that search engines may not be of much use someday, especially in the event of a massive solar flare, e.m.p or hacker attack on the grid.

 

[Cosmoline]

Just something I do and maybe some of you have already thought of this. I keep a small library of books for when the shtf. I have a mushroom i.d. book, a few for edible wild plants, books on processing and preserving animals, etc. I have a feeling that search engines may not be of much use someday, especially in the event of a massive solar flare, e.m.p or hacker attack on the grid.

This, 100%. Goodwill can also be an awesome place for cheap reference books.

One of the best is the Pocket Ref by Thomas J Glover. Plenty of bang for the buck.